Fresno St beaten again by Boise St 20-10

BOISE, Idaho (AP)

Like many of his teammates, the senior safety has never
celebrated a victory over Boise State, and in recent years the
matchups have been blowouts.

But things seemed different against No. 24 Boise State Saturday.
The defense was keeping the game close and, at times, the Bulldogs'
new no-huddle, spread offense was moving the ball effectively.

Ultimately, the Bulldogs (4-3, 2-1 Mountain West) were
victimized by a couple of turnovers, costly penalties and an
assortment of other miscues in a 20-10 loss.

''It hurts. It hurts to go through your career and never beat
this team,'' said Thomas, who led his team with nine tackles. ''I
always wanted to beat them. I always wanted to compete with this
team because they have been good over the years. Take away all the
penalties, take away all of the mental mistakes and mental lapses
and we have a different outcome. Those guys are good over there.
They executed and out played us and they found a way to win the
game. We just know that we could play better.''

The loss dropped Fresno State out of a tie for first in the
conference was the seventh straight defeat against the Broncos.

Bronco running back D.J. Harper led the way by rushing for 122
yards and a touchdown and Joe Southwick threw for another score.
But it was the Broncos defense that made things difficult for Derek
Carr and the rest of the Fresno State offense.

The Broncos held Fresno State scoreless in the first half, the
fourth straight game the Broncos defense has held foes scoreless in
the first two quarters.

The Broncos also squelched a scoring drive in the opening
minutes of the third quarter with an interception, forced a fumble
on another possession midway through the fourth quarter and held
Robbie Rouse to 77 yards rushing on 25 carries.

Fresno State got on the board late in the third quarter when
Quentin Breshears nailed a 39-yard field goal to pull within
20-3.

The Fresno State offense moved the ball well in the second half
behind a mix of passing and running from Rouse. The Bulldogs
finally scored a touchdown late in the fourth quarter when Carr
capped a nine-play, 80-yard drive by lobbing a 3-yard pass to
Davante Evans.

But the Bulldogs failed to capitalize on the ensuing onside kick
when Boise's Geraldo Boldewijn leapt high to bat the ball out of
bounds.

Carr was 29 of 43 for 266 yards, but his lone interception in
Boise State territory squelched a scoring drive early in the third
quarter. He also fumbled the ball while scrambling late in the
fourth quarter deep in Bulldog territory.

The Bulldogs amassed 322 yards of total offense and were
penalized nine times for 85 yards. One of the most costly penalties
came in the first half when an interception by Sean Alston was
called back by a roughing the passer penalty. The mistake prolonged
a Boise State drive that ended with the first of two 19-yard field
goals by Michael Frisina.

''We hurt ourselves,'' said coach Tim DeRuyter. ''We had delay
of game penalties, we had false starts. Defensively, we extended
their drives with a hit to the helmet.

''We have to take advantages of our opportunities, and we didn't
today,'' he said. ''We had the opportunity to play the 22 ranked
team in the country in their own backyard. We had the opportunity
to go 3-0 in this conference, and now we are going to have to
scratch and claw to get back into this race and hope for some help
from somewhere else.''

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